Sean Gentille

Published on Feb. 26, 2012 | Updated on Feb. 27, 2012

Feb. 26, 2012

With about 24 hours remaining before the NHL trade deadline, the Montreal Canadiens went into rumor-control mode.

On Sunday, the Montreal Gazette's Pat Hickey reported that forward Tomas Plekanec, in the second season of a six-year, $30 million contract, is willing to waive his no-trade clause to facilitate a trade out of Montreal.

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That, Plekanec's agent said, is false.

"I’ve never had a conversation or discussion with (GM) Pierre Gauthier and Montreal regarding a need to address his no-trade clause," Rick Curran told ESPN.com Sunday.

That's particularly interesting, because Hickey reported that Plekanec had told his agent—Curran, presumably—that he'd be willing to waive the clause.

Curran denied that, both to ESPN and RDS, and Hickey has since removed from his report the reference to Plekanec's agent informing the club that Plekanec would be amenable to a trade.

"He’s never broached the topic. I had dinner with Tomas last night, as well as Tomas Kaberle, and never once did we ever discuss a trade or anything like that," Curran told ESPN. It’s not an issue whatsoever."

Also false: speculation that Gauthier had been fired. Owner Geoff Molson took to Twitter on Saturday to dismiss such talk. He said "rumors of Pierre Gauthier's firing are false."

Molson is also the team president, and there was further talk that he had taken over as general manager.

The struggling Canadiens are last in the Eastern Conference. Plekanec, 27, has 12 goals and 30 assists and is a solid two-way player who regularly plays against the opposition's top players. He had 70 points in 2009-10.